It is well known that the umbilical cord of a newly born baby must be closed to prevent bleeding. Previously this was done by knotting the umbilical cord or by means of a tie string. More recently however this closing has been done by means of a clamp and in particular by a clamp made of plastics material.
A typical prior plastics umbilical cord clamp is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,247,852 to Schneider. This clamp is of the kind comprising a pair of arms having their inner ends joined by a hinge and their outer ends connected by a locking device in the form of a hook portion which is located at one end and which is receivable in a recess in the other end for locking the outer ends together. This cord clamp has a number of disadvantages. First, it lacks visual means for indicating to the user that complete latching or locking has taken place. A second disadvantage is that the hook can be moved, or indeed under certain circumstances may itself move, out of engagement with the recess. Thus the locking or latching is not permanent which is dangerous and potentially fatal.
Another prior plastics umbilical cord clamp of the above kind is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,212,303 Nolan. This is an extremely popular and widely used umbilical cord clamp. This cord clamp has, instead of a hook, a tongue with a pair of lateral notches which receive projections on the other end member when the clamp is fully closed. In these circumstances the tip of the tongue is received within a recess beneath the projections. This arrangement serves to prevent the tongue being withdrawn from the notches under forces tending to force the two arms apart. However it is possible to manipulate the tongue to cause it to disengage the projections so that the tongue is moved out of engagement with the projections whereby the arms are able to move apart. Thus this cord clamp also does not provide a permanent latching and locking.